Understanding the Role that Health Plays in Achieving Successful Outcomes for Boys & Men of Color

(Bakersfield) — Assemblymember and Co Chairman of the BMOC committee Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) remarked “Understanding how health impacts the outcomes of boys and men of color is personal to all fathers’ raising young boys of color. Too often our young men of color are quickly diagnosed as willfully defiant or ADHD and placed on medication, when in most cases they are just strong young black men, who are speaking up for themselves and don’t “act” the way that our education system wants them to behave. The use of “drugs” in our communities to control what is deemed as unacceptable behavior by our young men requires us pushing back and not letting the system continue to stigmatize them, and if they are going to be diagnosed, their health needs to be looked at in totality and not be pigeon holed by a biased system, that views similar behavior in their white counterparts as leadership traits.”